Indian Shares Little Changed In Early Trade

4/24/2012 12:46 AM ET

Indian shares are trading in a narrow range on Tuesday, tracking weak Asian cues as political developments in Europe and worries about global growth dampened investor sentiment.

Fluctuating between gains and losses, the benchmark 30-share Sensex is currently down 17 points or 0.1 percent at 17,080, while the broader Nifty index is down 6 points or 0.11 percent at 5,196. Capital goods, oil/gas, FMCG and auto stocks are pacing the declines, while IT stocks are gaining ground.

Tata Consultancy Services is climbing 9 percent as it beat estimates with a 23 percent rise in quarterly net profit. HCL Technologies is rallying 2.4 percent after signing a product development deal with U.S.-based GridPoint. Wipro is adding 2 percent ahead of its quarterly results tomorrow.

Maruti Suzuki India is losing a percent after workers at its Manesar plant demanded a hike in their basic salaries, as high as five times in some cases, according to a report. Corporation Bank is unchanged after revising its base rate to 10.50 percent from 10.65 percent.

Telecom stocks are drifting lower after telecom regulator Trai proposed a reserve price of Rs 3622.18 crore for the auction of 2G spectrum which is 10 times higher than the base price in 2008. Bharti Airtel is tumbling 5.2 percent, Idea Cellular is losing 4.4 percent, Reliance Communication is down 1.7 percent and Tata Teleservices is moving down 2 percent.

United Phosphorous is down almost 6 percent on a ET report that the Competition Commission of India has slapped fine of Rs 252.4 crore for price manipulation. Rallis India is tumbling 5.8 percent after it received board approval to buy a 51 percent stake in Zero Waste Agro Organics, a Maharashtra-based organic manure and soil conditioners manufacturing company.

Indian shares tumbled on Monday, with benchmark indexes Sensex and the Nifty falling 1.6 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively as reports of exit by Macquarie's Asia hedge fund and weak global cues amid political worries about Europe and dismal manufacturing data from China and the euro zone spooked investors.